A comparative analysis of animals' understanding of the human pointing gesture

Abstract

We review studies demonstrating the ability of some animals to understand the human pointing gesture. We present a 3-step analysis of the topic. (1) We compare and evaluate current experimental methods (2) We compare available experimental results on performance of different species and investigate the interaction of species differences and other independent variables (3) We evaluate how our present understanding of pointing comprehension answers questions about function, evolution and mechanisms. Recently, a number of different hypotheses have been put forward to account for the presence of this ability in some species and for the lack of such comprehension in others. In our view, there is no convincing evidence for the assumption that the competitive lifestyles of apes would inhibit the utilization of this human gesture. Similarly, domestication as a special evolutionary factor in the case of some species falls short in explaining high levels of pointing comprehension in some non-domestic species. We also disagree with the simplistic view of describing the phenomenon as a simple form of conditioning. We suggest that a more systematic comparative research is needed to understand the emerging communicative representational abilities in animals that provide the background for comprehending the human pointing gesture.

Responses of Domestic Horses and Ponies to Single, Combined and Conflicting Visual and Auditory Cues

“…Object-choice testsdthe standard tests for assessing animal's ability to understand human-given cues [3]d required subjects to use cues provided by the experimenter that signaled the location of a food reward (positive reinforcer) hidden in one of two buckets. At the start of each trial, the handler led the animal by the halter to the starting point 4 m away from the experimenter ( Fig.…”

“…Training often involves teaching equine breed types to respond to human-given cues through secondary conditioning, controlling behavior with auditory or visual signals [2]. It is possible to evaluate animals' ability to respond, and understand, human-given cues by using object-choice tests [3]. However, such tests have not been widely used to assess the capacity of domestic equine breed types to perceive, respond, and interact with human-given cues.…”

“…We hypothesized that combined cues would improve the likelihood of correct choice (approaching the bucket with the reward), but that horses' responses would be random when presented with conflicting cues. Previous object-choice tests have suggested that environmental and genetic factors are influential [3]. Given this, we predicted that ponies would outperform horses, as associations of learning ability with equine breed type and work history suggest ponies, renowned to be comparatively intelligent and adept at learning, with a history of selection for working in human-horse relationships involving traits such as low anxiousness and excitability/emotionality, and high obedience and patience, should be better able to use both visual and auditory cues than horses that are bred and trained predominantly for physical characteristics [9][10][11][12].…”

The domestication hypothesis for dogs' skills with human communication: a response to Udell et al. (2008) and Wynne et al. (2008)

“…Dogs across a range of breeds use human communicative cues such as pointing or physical markers to find food that is hidden in one of two hiding places (controls rule out the use of olfactory cues; Cooper et al 2003;Hare & Tomasello 2005;Miklosi & Soproni 2006). In direct comparisons, dogs are even more skilled than chimpanzees at using human communicative cues when searching for food (Hare et al 2002;Brä uer et al 2006).…”

Mira lo que te muestro:¿Comunicación referencial entre perros domésticos (canis familiaris) y humanos?

“…La clave con la que los perros son más exitosos para encontrar la comida oculta es el señalamiento (para una revisión, ). Se han estudiado diversas variantes de esta clave, tales como el señalamiento cruzado, el señala-miento con el codo o con la pierna y en todas ellas los perros superan el azar (para una revisión, Miklósi & Soproni, 2006;Reid, 2009).…”